Pittsburgh 6, St. Louis 1
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 29, 2018
Where: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Missouri
Referees:
Wes McCauley, Chris Rooney
Linesmen:
Darren Gibbs, Matt MacPherson
Attendance:
17475
By Field Level Media
Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists and Kris Letang had three assists Saturday as the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the St. Louis Blues 6-1 to stretch their winning streak to a season-best five straight games.
Crosby has two goals, 15 points in eight games.
Juuso Riikola, Zach Aston-Reese, Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin also scored, and Phil Kessel had three assists for Pittsburgh, which was 4-for-4 on the power play.
Goaltender Matt Murray won his fifth straight start since returning from a lower-body injury, making 30 saves.
David Perron scored for St. Louis, which missed a shot at its first three-game winning streak. The Blues had won five of their previous seven.
Jake Allen gave up four goals on 17 shots before he was pulled about halfway through the game. Reliever Jordan Binnington stopped 11 of 13 shots.
When St. Louis' Alexander Steen was penalized for high-sticking Pittsburgh's Bryan Rust off the opening faceoff, it opened the door for Crosby to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead 48 seconds in. Off a feed from Patric Hornqvist, Crosby scored on a sharp-angle shot.
Rust finished the first period, then left the game.
At 5:13 of the second with Pittsburgh's No. 2 power-play unit on the ice, Riikola got his first NHL goal in his 19th game on a blast from above the left circle with Hornqvist screening Allen.
Aston-Reese, who replaced Rust on the top line, gave the Penguins a 3-0 lead at 7:17 of the second on a deflection off a Letang feed.
Pittsburgh got its third power-play goal at 9:25 of the second when Letang used Hornqvist as a screen to score.
That goal chased Allen.
Perron cut it to 4-1 at 14:36 of the second. Ryan O'Reilly got a rebound and found Perron in the left circle.
The Penguins piled on with goals 33 seconds apart early in the third.
Guentzel tipped a shot by Brian Dumoulin past Binnington to make it 5-1 at 3:05.
Malkin scored Pittsburgh's fourth power-play goal at 3:38, on a one-timer.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Pittsburgh |
|
St. Louis |
|
Sidney Crosby 3 |
Points |
David Perron 1 |
|
Sidney Crosby 1 |
Goals |
David Perron 1 |
|
Phil Kessel 3 |
Assists |
Ryan O'Reilly 1 |
|
Sidney Crosby 1 |
Power Play Goals |
N/A |
|
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
|
Matt Murray .968 |
Save Percentage |
Jordan Binnington .846 |
|
Matt Murray 30 |
Saves |
Jake Allen 13 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
| Pittsburgh
|
30 |
6 |
4-4 |
2-2 |
9 |
31 |
| St. Louis
|
31 |
1 |
0-2 |
0-4 |
13 |
30 |
Upcoming Games
-
St. Louis will play their next game at home against NY Rangers. The Blues have a W/L % of .267 after a win and .524 after a loss.
-
Pittsburgh will play their next game on the road against Minnesota. The Penguins have a W/L % of .526 after a win and .526 after a loss.
For more information, contact us